ManWood July/August Trip

The first day out in the community is probably one of the hardest days for a volunteer. But before that happens we are up at 6am and on the way to the beach for sun rise.
But Nkosie decides to take his new trainers brought by a volunteer from the April trip @JaneAttew for a spin and runs the 5 kilometres to the beach.
We are at the beach 🏝️ 7:30am where we meet him looking very happy with his trainers.
With just enough time for me to go for a swim the families watch the sun rise and are happy taking photos. "My happy place, Love it here."
Home for breakfast and then of to the Children's Home so the team can have a presentation from the CEO Noshile about the Children's Home on the amazing work they do. Once we completed the Children's home presentation and a lot of question had been answered.
We cross the road to the Christoph Meyer Math & Science Centre. There are about 200 children here from the surrounding area in a competition all about Robotics. This goes way over my head. Although I find education a huge challenge even in my 50's I do understand the importance of it especially in a rural community where it is often the only way to get a child out of poverty.
We say our goodbyes to Dorothy the principal and we meet up with Mphume the North regional social worker for LK. She will be taking us around to do the home visits.
The house that we visit first I have been show before. The group are introduced to the a lady at the first house that we visited out of four. The look of shock says it all........
You don't get numbed by what you see but you do have to protect yourself to make sure you stay focused to make a plan.
Marisa pops her sun glasses down and her and her mum walk away. Within a the trips this day the toughest, reality hits and all volunteers find it hard.
Over the course of the day the team have many discussions about which house they would build first and why. Neither is right or wrong all have valid points. But the truth is a decision has to made in which order has we don't have funding for them all.
At dinner the team go over the day and laugh at getting stuck twice or was it three times in the sand. They discussed further the house situation and till a plan is made.
A great first day...!Baca selengkapnya